I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for visualizing the execution of a software program, especially in an embedded system.
II. Description of Related Art
Embedded systems utilizing microprocessors have become more and more prevalent to control a plant or control target. The embedded software utilized to control the execution of these embedded systems typically utilizes a plurality of program modules, each of which produces a value in response to its input parameters, according to control strategies for the plant. Furthermore, any individual program module of the embedded software program may contain two or even more different modes of functionality depending upon various parameters of the software program.
For example, in one mode of functionality for the program module, the program module may generate a value involving linear arithmetic. Conversely, in a different mode the program module performs a calculation utilizing nonlinear arithmetic while in yet a third mode, the program module merely assigns a constant to a particular software parameter.
As the embedded systems become more and more complex, the embedded software program for the embedded system likewise becomes increasingly complex. Consequently, the programming and debugging of the software program for the embedded systems has become increasingly difficult.
In order to facilitate the programming and debugging of the software program for embedded systems, there have been previously known programming tools which displayed the various program modules on a display device, such as a video monitor, and which allowed the programmer to track the operation during the execution or simulated execution of the software program. However, none of these previously known programming tools have differentiated between the different modes of functionality at any given time of the various program modules during execution.